Tag Archives: gardening

Tonight dinner was enhanced by the first potatoes from what used to be our rockery. We dug it out a couple or three years ago and made a raised be into with we’ve planted various greens and potatoes. Tonight’s are the result of a potato that I just planted because it was sprouting in the veg drawer. A nice change from some of the shop bought (we were very disappoited with the Jersey Royals this year – almost tasteless).

Earlier in the year we had a great crop of strawberries that lasted us throigh about 3 weeks of enhancing puddings. Not so many coming through now though.

The tomato hanging basket (Tumbler) is cropping like mad and making salads nicer as are lettuce from the garden. The plum and full size tomatoes are flowering, but no crops yet.

We tried Pak Choi this year for the first time and managed to use 4 or 5 in stir fries before they went to flower.

Fennel, garlic, round carrotts and beans all coming along.

We’ll never match Tom & Barbara, but it is a bit of fun and relaxation, the food miles are minimal and it all tastes good, so we’ll be doing it all again next year.

The day started dull, but the sun came out for a while around 0900 for me to walk over to the newsagent and enquire where our paper had gone (school holidays – delivery tends to get a bit erratic).

Samantha Squirrell was round again for breakfast and is hopefully snug back in her drey now. The sparrows were fairly swarming. Whatever the decline may be we are certainly not seeing it in our garden. There are usually at least 9, and sometimes 12+ (it gets hard to be sure becuase by the time you’ve counted to 12 they’re all on the move again). The starlings have also be in with the juveniles starting to get their adult plumage.

All of the birds seem to be on their second broods of the season and this new batch are just about staring to feed themselves. The magpies are also doing well again and there were well into double figures around by the footbridge as I walked to the shop. Not being supersticious I don’t salute them (or count them too closely).

My efforts at thwarting the pigeons seem to have worked for now and they are spending a lot of time sat in the cherry tree trying to work out how to get at the bird food. They’ll have to make do, like Samantha does, with what falls on the floor. At least I’ve given the smaller birds a better chance at getting their fair share.

We’ve not had a fox in residence for the second year running after being on the Good Earth guide for about 5 years. In their absence it rather looks as though the bees have taken up residence under the deck, so maybe I can reclaim the compost bin. I’ll have to cut the honeysuckle back to find it, so that can go on the autumn job list.

Anyway, that’s it for now as the sky has got a bit lighter and I can see what I’m doing with the decorating again. Time to go back to work.

I’ve been working on the garden again and mostly things are looking good, but our Peaches & Cream wisteria is very dormant whereas normally at this time of year we have a spectacular display of flowers and foliage. Its buds were just starting to break when the last big cold snap came along and this seems to have just stopped it in its tracks.

Fingers are crossed that it will burst back into life (we usually get a second flowering).